


Adrift

by d_leachii



Category: One Piece
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, inaccurate depictions of organ removal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-11
Updated: 2018-01-11
Packaged: 2019-03-03 19:47:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13348254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/d_leachii/pseuds/d_leachii
Summary: Law finds more than he bargained for in the Grand Line in the form of one Eustass Kid





	Adrift

**Author's Note:**

> kidlaw week day 2 prompt: Red  
> my dumb cliche ass immediately thought red = blood so here we are, i literally finished this thirty seconds ago and it's already day 3 on the east coast but shhhhhh
> 
> un-beta'd unedited un-whatever'd 
> 
> i'm only doing certain days from the prompt list, stay tuned for day four: ache

Law was no stranger to blood. As a doctor, he saw it often. His devil fruit gave him the ability to see it, take it, manipulate it however he wanted. He could whisk all of the blood out of someone’s body, or take their heart out and watch the ventricles pump.

Still, it always surprised him just how much blood a body contained. He tried not to think about it as he turned to his latest patient, motionless on his operating table. He sliced through the skin and peeled back a layer of muscle, scanning the tissues for imperfections. Kid’s muscles were superbly efficient, thick and heavy in his hands. He slid his scalpel into Kid’s chest, the flesh parting easily under the blade. He dug his fingers into the warm, soft muscle. It always amazed him how frail the body actually was, falling apart with little more than a tug.

\--  
_  
Eustass Kid had been a menace from the moment Law laid eyes on him in a seedy tavern on Sabaody. His reputation preceded him but not wrongly so; he was brash and rude and his hair color was an insult to Law’s eyes. Still, he had held his own against the marines there and had so earned the slightest bit of respect from Law. When Law fled the archipelago, submarine descending rapidly out of sight, he hadn’t given the man much of a backwards glance. If he were lucky they would never see each other again._

_His luck ran out only a few weeks later in the New World. Law’s crew was battered and tired from the whirlwind of events that had swept them since sailing into that sea. The Tang limped into the nearest harbor and her crew was only too happy to disembark. They scattered through the small town and Law immediately sought out a tavern. The place was dark, air thick with smoke, but it promised cheap liquor which was all he cared about at the moment._

_It was testament to how tired Law was that he didn’t recognize the man’s presence until he already had a drink in his hand. Eustass approached him at the bar, sliding into the seat next to him. Law reached for the sword at his side, other hand calling up his powers as he sprung backwards away from the man in front of him. They hadn’t parted on friendly terms, and Law’s natural distrust of people told him that Kid was looking for a fight. He was prepared for one, if Kid wanted it. They locked eyes, each studying the other for weakness and the best spot to strike first._

_If anybody else noticed or cared they didn’t show it. Kid broke eye contact first with a laugh and a wave of his hand._

_“Paranoid bastard,” he chuckled, “siddown and have a drink with me.”_

_Law’s suspicion didn’t wane but he crept back onto his seat, watching Kid out of the corner of his eye the whole time._

_“What’re you doing here? You followin’ me?”_

_The thought was absurd. Law, willingly seek out Eustass Kid? He’d have to be out of his mind. He knew Kid was only fishing for information, so he remained silent and sipped at his drink. Just because Kid had insisted they sit together didn’t mean he had to be polite. Kid wasn’t phased._

_“I’ve been thinkin’ about you since Sabaody. Who knew we’d end up on the same route, eh?” he nudged Law in the side with his elbow, threatening to spill Law’s drink and almost knocking him off his stool. Law glared at him over the rim of his glass._

_“Good talk, Trafalgar, you really know how to chat a guy up,” Kid’s expression soured when Law didn’t answer. He threw back the rest of his drink and slammed the glass down on the bar top. Kid flagged down the bartender._

_“Another, and one of whatever he’s drinkin’ for him,” Kid threw a few beli at the man._

_“I’m not finished with this one yet,” and Law hadn’t meant to answer but Kid buying for him had been so unexpected he’d blurted out the first thing on his mind without thinking. Kid looked just as shocked as him at Law’s sudden speech._

_“Haha! You got your priorities all wrong there. That’s the first thing you think when someone buys you a drink?” Kid burst into laughter, yanking Law’s glass from his hand and downing it before Law could really think about what he’d said._

_“You know I could open you up and take that back if I really wanted,” Law raised a hand threateningly. If Kid was surprised by the scalpel he’d materialized from nowhere (left breast pocket of his coat, always prepared) he didn’t show it. Rather, he leaned in closer, watching the lamp light play across the small blade._

_“You don’t know who you’re talkin’ to, doc, ‘cause that’s kinda hot.”_

_It was Law’s turn to be shocked, recoiling from Kid and stuffing the scalpel back into his pocket. Kid had to be drunk already to be talking like that. Who knew how long he’d been there before Law showed up? And actually buying him a drink? There was no chance the man wasn’t hammered._

_“I know what you’re thinking and it’s not that,” Kid was suddenly serious, voice low and quiet, “but I don’t think you know how much I’ve been wantin’ to talk to you like this.”_

_Law wasn’t sure what to say but thankfully he didn’t have to as their drinks arrived. He took a long sip out of his, trying to process Kid’s words. He’d been waiting to talk to Law? He was, relatively speaking after two drinks with a metabolism like his, sober and clear? Then what the hell did he want?_

_Law didn’t have an answer and he’d already broken his vow of silence against the man so he might as well ask._

_“What do you mean?”_

_Kid laughed again._

_“Are all you smart guys dense as a brick too, does that come with the territory?”_

_Law stared back at him._

_“You can’t seriously - You gonna make me spell it out for you, Trafalgar?”_

_What in the seven seas was this asshat talking about. Surely not. Law drained his glass. Surely Kid wasn’t-_

_“Buy you another drink?”_

_“Are you propositioning me?”_

_Kid grinned, wide-eyed and wicked._

_“Depends on your answer.”_

_Law should say no. The word was halfway up his throat when it caught on - something. He choked it down. What would happen if he said no? Worst case scenario, Kid would get mad and rampage around the place, tearing it to the ground. No real loss on Law’s part except the effort he would expend fleeing Kid’s war path._

_But then, what if he said yes? The fact that he didn’t immediately shoot the man down spoke volumes; he was quick to shut down unwanted advances. So did that make Kid’s attention wanted? He couldn’t deny Kid was attractive in a rugged way. He was so much larger than Law too, the difference in their sizes wasn’t something he came across a lot and he couldn’t deny it would be fun to roll in the sheets underneath the man. Kid could probably haul him around with one hand, and the little thrill that shot through his gut was all the answer he needed._

_Still, he didn’t have to make it easy for him._

_“I’ll have another drink first, I think,” and he tried to ignore the goofy smile that plastered itself across Kid’s face. He ordered something top shelf and expensive, hardly caring if it tasted good. It was worth it to hear Kid’s dramatic sigh as he dug through his money to pay, kicking at Law’s chair in retaliation._

_Kid was perfect. He dominated Law, pushing his face down into the sheets. Law growled in defiance but rocked his hips back to meet every thrust. Law lost track of how many times Kid bit and clawed and fucked him, surrendering to his own pleasure. Law’s world narrowed down to Kid; his hands, his voice, the stark shock of red hair in the dark room. He would later deny screaming Kid’s name but his hoarse voice the next morning said otherwise. As he shuffled, sore but satisfied, back to the Tang the next morning, thumbing over a piece of paper with Kid’s den den mushi number scribbled on it, he wondered if maybe he had been wrong about Eustass Kid._  
  
\-- -- 

He was deep into Kid’s chest now, blood and viscera flecked up his arms and down his front. It cooled and hardened on his arms, making him sticky as he worked but he paid no mind. This was his territory, where he thrived. He had dedicated years of his life to studying the body intricately enough to make it his playground. He worked quickly but efficiently, incisions swift and precise. 

Law cracked through Kid’s sternum and pulled his ribs back for easier access to his heart. The thing was huge, and dare say, beautiful. Law had been elbow deep in enough patients to develop a preference for certain characteristics of the heart. For a moment, he simply observed it. This was the thing that made Kid tick and powered his whole being. Law gently laid a hand over it; Kid’s heart dwarfed his hand. He traced over the atriums and ventricles, followed the veins and arteries as far as he could until they disappeared into the rest of his body. Law narrowed his room as he bent over his patient. The smaller the room, the more he could concentrate on his powers in front of him and the knife in his hand. With a single movement he sliced Kid’s heart in two. 

\-- --  
__  
Law drifted awake in the early hours of the morning. His snail phone rang quietly next to him, a soft purupurupuru. He stretched as he picked up the receiver; there was only one person who would bother to call at this hour.

_“Eustass,” he whispered. Nobody would be awake to hear except whoever was steering the sub, but he kept quiet still._

_Kid chuckled down the line at him, “Did I wake you?”_

_“Not at all,” Law lied. He was more than willing to sacrifice sleep to talk to Kid. They didn’t see each other often enough for his liking anyway._

_“How’s the weather?”_

_Law glanced outside the porthole window. “Wet.”_

_Kid laughed, even though he asked the same question every time they talked and even though Law gave the same answer every time. It was their routine, as ingrained into Law by now as speaking._

_Kid rambled on about anything and everything. Law let him speak, content to listen to him complain about the navy and Killer’s constant nagging and how the water heater broke and how nobody wanted to be the first to fix it. Law hummed and sighed and laughed in all the right places, and when Kid was done speaking they shared a comfortable silence._

_“So,” Kid started again, “are you alone?”_

_“I’m always alone, Eustass. Captain’s quarters.”_

_“What are you wearing, baby?” he could hear the grin on Kid’s face. He chuckled at the cliche line but couldn’t deny the rush of heat through him at Kid’s words. They’d gotten quite good at the whole phone sex thing after a few weeks and lots of awkward fumbling._

_“Wouldn’t you like to know?”_

_“Oh? I’m going to assume you’re not wearin’ anything then. Which is perfect for what I have in mind.”_

_And Law let Kid lead as he did most times, running a hand up his chest to tease at his nipples and another hand to press on his throat per Kid’s request._

_“Touch yourself,” Kid said and Law did, stroking slow and firm, wishing it were Kid’s hands on him instead of his own, screwing his eyes shut and losing himself in the fantasy._

_“I bet you look so good,” Kid panted down the line at him, “touching yourself for me, wishin’ I was inside you. I’d fuck you so good, hard and fast just like you like it.”_

_Law whined at his words, thrusting faster into his own hand. He came with Kid who joined him with a shout of his name and Law basked in his afterglow and the fact that just the mere thought of his body did that to Kid. They lay in silence again for a while._

_“I want to see you again,” Law was the first one to speak._

_“We’re two days from land, and you can’t be far behind us. C’mon, catch up,” Kid teased._

_It still shocked him, his relationship with the man. He would never have guessed that they would go from enemies to something akin to lovers, or as close as they could get with Kid’s tendency to mock and tease him and Law’s inability to resist slicing him into pieces whenever they met again. He thought back to their first meeting in a nameless bar in a nowhere town and how he’d almost torn the place apart at the first words Kid spoke to him._

_“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Law sighed, pulling his covers over him as he settled back down into his bed. Kid hummed, on the edge of sleep himself._

_“And Eustass?”_

_“Yeah?”_

_“You owe me another drink.”_  
  
\-- -- 

Blood rushed over his hands, filling Kid’s chest cavity and spilling over onto the floor. It pooled around Law’s feet, staining his hands. It was still warm, warmer than Law, heat spreading through his fingers. The two halves of Kid’s heart lay open in front of him. Law separated one half from its attached blood vessels and turned it over in his hand. It felt heavy in his hand, both physically and with the knowledge that this was the deepest part of Kid he would ever reach. 

Law shuddered. People could sing and write and give displays and gestures of love and trust all they wanted, but this was the most true form of intimacy. Ripping apart his partner with his own hands, playing god with the very thing that kept them alive, that was true love. Kid trusted Law with the most vulnerable part of him. It was enough to send a rush to his head. 

Law separated the other half of Kid’s heart from his body and stitched them back together. 

\-- --  
__  
Law fought down the strange feeling that struck him whenever he saw his sub docked next to Kid’s ship. Kid’s huge ship towered over the Polar Tang, dark and imposing. A quick scan revealed that Kid wasn’t aboard - in fact, none of the crew was, even in the bowels of the ship. Kid might not be the sharpest sword of the bunch but he wasn’t stupid. Not leaving someone on watch in the New World was a rookie mistake.

_Come to think, Law hadn’t seen sight or sound of anyone since he and his crew disembarked. The only other ship in the harbor was a battered brigantine, but with her rotten wood and torn sails it was clear she hadn’t sailed for a long time. Law’s suspicion was raised. Kid’s vivre card had led him here, though, so he pressed on. He tried not to think of the other ship and the cannon sized holes in her side, nor the lack of people as he walked. Kid had strange taste in places he docked; Law hoped this was merely one of his more eccentric haunts._

_A muffled shout from up ahead pulled Law from his thoughts. He jogged up the path. His crew must have found something interesting from the frantic way Shachi was sprinting back to meet him._

_“Captain!”_

_“What is it?” Law moved to run past him but the man caught his arm, stopping him in his tracks. “Shachi, what’s wrong?”_

_His crew had seen many horrible things in their lives judging from what bits and pieces of their pasts he’d gathered, and Shachi had personally assisted him on gruesome and grisly surgeries. The man was strong, mentally speaking, but this was the most shaken Law had ever seen him. His eyes were wide and darting around Law, his grip on Law’s arm tight and shaking with nerves. Law had never seen him so outright panicked._

_“Captain, we need to leave, now!”_

_“What’s happened? Where are the others? Is this blood?”_

_Law had too many questions to simply leave. The rest of his crew was still farther up the path as well. He extracted himself from Shachi and brushed past him.  
He expected Shachi to stop him again but saw him instead stumbling back towards their ship. He made it ten yards before he bent over and retched into the grass. Fear dripped down Law’s spine. _

_The path cracked and broke under his feet, clearly not used in many years. It had led him to a ramshackle town, buildings run down and doors hanging off hinges. The place was deserted and dark. He was guided through the streets by the noise of his crew arguing._

_Shadows crawled and stretched across the abandoned town as the sun set, casting an eerie light. Something cracked loudly under Law’s foot - a tibia, by the looks of it. He had really hoped that the off-color bones scattered along the path were some kind of native plant bark but now he knew otherwise. He only wanted to collect his crew and leave; Kid could meet them at the next harbor, some place with running water and actual people._

_Law rounded a corner and found himself in a clearing. There stood his crew, yelling and pointing amongst themselves. Bepo stood in the doorway of a building - the only one with light coming from the window. He counted - his entire crew was outside. Kid and his men must be inside._

_“Captain!” he lit up immediately upon seeing Law. The rest of the crew met him with a range of expressions from happy to something that reminded him of the terror he’d seen on Shachi’s face. Nerves clawed at Law’s stomach again. None of them moved from their spots._

_“What is going on here? Shachi looks like he saw a ghost. Where are the Kid Pirates?”_

_Nobody met his eyes. Law’s panic rose but he fought it down. Wind whipped through the clearing; it was entirely too silent in the town, despite its lack of occupants besides the pirate crews. Where was Kid’s uproarious laughter? Law didn’t need his powers or haki to know that that nobody was in that room._

_“Pen?”_

_Penguin glanced up at his name but remained silent. He had the same wild edge to him that Shachi did and Law couldn’t pretend any longer. Something was very, very wrong. His crew refused to speak or look at him. As his eyes adjusted he recognized the dark splotches on the ground for what it really was._

_Blood covered the ground underneath their feet. It stained the cobblestones around them. Thick, wet drops of it were splashed on the overgrown weeds and grass and streaked along the Heart Pirates boots from where they had walked through it. Law had seen a lot of blood during his operations and experiments, but this was a lot of blood. Enough to bleed out several people. Law’s throat closed, he couldn’t breathe._

_“Bepo,” Law was beginning to lose his patience. He was their captain, and they couldn’t keep things from him._

_The bear covered his face with his paws. He didn’t move from his post at the door so Law went to him._

_“Bepo, I know you can’t keep secrets. Where are they?”_

_“Captain…,” he whined, and Law knew he couldn’t hold out forever._

_“Move.”_

_Bepo shook his head._

_“Please,” Law whispered, “I need to know.”_

_Bepo pulled his face from his paws. Reluctantly, he stepped aside. The lamp light of the room was bright compared to the darkness outside and Law squinted as he stepped inside._

_Damn his curiosity. Curse his need to know and his inability to take Shachi at face value when he’d said to leave. Fuck all of that, but most of all fuck the marines and their hatred for pirates._

_Kid lay motionless, propped up against the wall. Law knew already but he had to check. He raced to him, knelt beside him and placed a hand on his neck. He waited, counted, waited. There was no answering pulse or shudder of breath even when Law shook him. He thumbed over the gash through Kid’s throat, still dripping slowly down the man’s front. Blood was streaked up his face, matted in his hair. It slicked his coat, splashed across the floor and up the walls. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed the rest of Kid’s crew - Killer, Heat, Wire, others he still didn’t know and never would - but Kid was his priority. He threw up a room. The logical part of his brain was telling him that Kid was d- gone, that Kid was gone and he wasn’t coming back, but he had to be sure. If anybody could save him, Law could.  
Kid’s heart lay silent in his chest. Law grabbed at Kid’s coat. He could fix this, he could save him still, somehow, he could - _

_“Captain,” Bepo called softly from behind him, “he’s-”_

_He couldn’t let Bepo say it._

_“We’re leaving,” Law stood, unable to bear staying any longer, “but he’s coming with us.”_

_Law couldn’t leave Kid here. He wasn’t ready to let go yet._  
  
\-- -- 

Law tightened the lid on the jar and felt a strange mixture of complete and extremely empty. He scrawled Kid’s name on the label, his full name, epithet, bounty, anything he could think of to help him identify the heart in the jar. As if he could ever forget. There was nobody else he could keep so close.  
He refused to look at the body on his operating table. It was merely that - a body. There was no point in cleaning it up; Kid wasn’t there to mock his stiches and bandaging job. He wouldn’t listen to Law’s medical advice or complaints about his crew or how much the weather sucked on his end of the New World. Kid wouldn’t send him packages or leave presents in his wake. He would never see Kid’s wanted poster above another bar, bounty raised again causing a swell of pride in Law’s heart.  
Law popped the cork off a bottle of old dark rum, Kid’s favorite. The smell assaulted him as he took a long swig, but the burn in his throat was nothing compared to the ache in his chest. It felt like he’d removed his own heart, and wasn’t that fitting. His heart was tied with Kid’s in a way he couldn’t dissect physically.  
Law carried the bottle and Kid’s heart up above deck. The Tang was still and silent in the midnight waves, as if even the breeze and the ocean had died with his other half. Law collapsed down onto the deck and set the jar down across from him. He should say something in this situation, right? A few words of remembrance, a short eulogy to send Kid off. Something, anything.  
He tipped the rest of the bottle down his throat and threw it across the deck, listening to it roll off the deck and into the sea.  
“Eustass, are you listening?”  
Small waves lapped at the Tang’s side in answer.  
“You owe me a drink.”

**Author's Note:**

> it's kid's birthday and i killed him oops. i feel like this one got away from me a bit, i don't know if i really made everything clear. there's a lot i'd change with a little more time 
> 
> also SORRY i've been avoiding all my requests i'll get to them after this week if school doesn't kill me first, i really wanna write more zolu
> 
> send prompts after kidlaw week and follow @wanifucker [[twitter]]


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